UTEP will try to extend its modest two-game winning streak to three, try to continue improving as a basketball team, tonight against nationally ranked UNLV.

The Rebels, who are 8-1, are ranked 20th in the Associated Press poll and 17th in the USA Today Coaches poll. The challenge is formidable.

"The challenge with them is that their bigs (inside players) are big-time rebounders and they are big-time runners," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "They will run the floor, and so we will need our bigs to run the floor. We cannot allow the game to go with us having one shot all night long and them getting four. We also can't let it get like it did against Arizona and Oklahoma, where we can't get into our offense."

UNLV likes an up-tempo pace and ranks 24th in the nation in scoring offense and 12th in the country in assists.

"The key in this game will be the same as its been all year long for us," said UTEP sophomore center Cedrick Lang. "Rebounding is the key to this game especially. We also have to try and limit their low-post catches because their big guys are really effective in there. Obviously, transition defense is big because they can really run. We've got to get back."

And sophomore forward Julian Washburn said, "We've got to rebound. They love to crash the offensive boards. We can't let them have shot after shot in there. We've certainly got to get back on defense. As soon as they get it, they are running. If we don't get back, they'll put up a hundred on us."

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This is the first night of a busy week for the Miners -- who have played just one game in the last two-and-a-half weeks. UTEP will play Oregon, currently 8-1 and the team that has given UNLV its only defeat, Wednesday night. The Miners will then play Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday in the opening game of the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational. Then Sunday they will play either Central Michigan or Nebraska in the final game of the tournament.

UTEP, now 3-4 after wins over New Mexico State and Idaho, has played a difficult early schedule. With the exception of Arizona, though, UNLV promises to be the Miners' most talented opponent to this point. Freshman forward Anthony Bennett leads the Rebels, averaging 20.3 points a game. He has five 20-point games this season.

"We will be playing two of the best teams in the West," Floyd said of UNLV and Oregon. "UNLV has only had one game where they scored less than 76 points. I think they had 68. That would be a heck of a night for us if we put up 68. But they are talented and they find ways to score. They offensive rebound and that is a way (of scoring) and they get fouled, that's a way to put points on the board."

The Rebels have made more free throws (185) than their opponents have attempted (175). Bennett averages 8.2 attempts per game.

UTEP will add two players to the mix tonight -- 6-foot-4 guard Konner Tucker and 6-6 guard McKenzie Moore. Tucker is returning after a broken bone in his right (shooting) hand and has been practicing with the team for a week now. Moore, a transfer, was not eligible to practice until this past weekend ... after final exams concluded. They finished Friday.

It will be "Throwback Night," with the Miners wearing Texas Western uniforms in honor of the 1966 NCAA championship team. The late Bobby Joe Hill, the point guard and leader of that team, will have his No. 14 jersey retired. And artist Opie Otterstad will reveal his painting of the 1966 team, a painting that will be part of a collage that features all 75 NCAA championship basketball teams and will be in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo.

It will be a night of remembrance, a night of celebration and a night of basketball, where the Miners try to piece together a bit more momentum against a nationally ranked team.

Bill Knight may be reached at bknight@elpasotimes.com; 546-6171. Follow him on Twitter @BillKnightept